SOME ESSENTIAL POINTS OF ORCHID CULTIVATION. 
SOME ESSENTIAL POINTS OF ORCHID CULTIVATION. 
By Gurney Wilson, F.L.S. 
[Read February 22, 191 6 ; Dr. F. W. Keeble, F.R.S., in the Chair.] 
Before one can achieve fame as an expert cultivator of Orchids 
it is necessary for him to obtain as complete a knowledge as possible 
of the conditions under which these plants exist in their native 
home, and even if an amateur desires merely to grow them with 
only moderate success it is important that the essential points of 
cultivation be clearly understood. Too often one sees a green- 
house devoted to Orchids belonging to several distinct classes, each 
accustomed to widely different atmospheric conditions, yet all expected 
by the owner to thrive with the same success as his Roses or herbaceous 
borders. As Orchids are found in practically all parts of the world 
where vegetation exists, they are subject to an extremely wide 
range of temperature and moisture ; some species will withstand a 
few degrees of frost, while others require constant tropical heat ; not a 
few are quite happy in parched desert air, while some fail to grow 
unless the atmosphere is almost at saturation point. How, then, is 
it possible for one glass structure to accommodate successfully a 
collection of plants having such varied requirements ? 
The eagerness with which an amateur attempts to make his 
collection representative of the family is the real reason why he so 
often fails in the matter of cultivation. The surest and quickest way 
to success is to decide what kind of atmosphere can be most easily 
maintained, and then to select plants accustomed to these con- 
ditions. Extensive collections demand a whole range of houses, in 
each of which a definite temperature and state of moisture are main- 
tained ; it is then possible to cultivate a very varied collection, for 
there is every facility for providing conditions corresponding to those 
in which the plants have existed for countless years. 
The first essential point is that Orchids, although growing in a 
variety of situations in their native homes, may be separated into 
two important divisions. The first, the Terrestrial, includes those 
found growing in the soil, just like ordinary plants ; the second, 
the Epiphytal, embraces a larger number which secure themselves 
to the trunks of trees, or other suitable places, at different heights 
from the ground. It will perhaps be advisable to state that the 
remarks in this lecture apply more particularly to Orchids usually 
seen under cultivation, and not so much to the less conspicuous ones 
commonly known as " Botanical Orchids," many of which require 
